Chester, Pa., Depressed for Years, Awaits a Casino

CHESTER, Pa. - As a former industrial planner at the Sun Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, Monir Z. Ahmed can mentally recreate every square foot of the 64-acre shipyard on the Delaware River southwest of Philadelphia.

But Mr. Ahmed, a Chester native whose father also worked at Sun Ship, hopes he won't recognize a square inch of the property when he attends the opening of the new Harrah's Chester Casino and Racetrack there this summer.

"I pray it's 100 percent different, because that's progress," said Mr. Ahmed, who serves on the City Council of this once-proud industrial powerhouse. "We're not a manufacturing country anymore."

Mr. Ahmed should get his wish.

As the Las Vegas-based Harrah's Entertainment Inc., the world's largest casino company, pushes forward with a $429 million gambling complex, all but one of the 27 shipbuilding structures have been demolished.

Even a wet dock did not escape conversion. It was covered by a bridge to make way for the first and second turns of a five-eighths-mile harness track.

The sense of optimism in Chester surrounding the waterfront project, which is about seven miles south of Philadelphia International Airport, is in sharp contrast to the reactions of some other Pennsylvania communities as developers scramble to get a share of the coming gambling action. Legislation passed in 2004, which allows for 14 slots operations, has generated more than two dozen proposals from Allentown in the east to Erie in the northwest corner of the state.

While some casino projects, like a proposed gambling resort near historic Gettysburg, have met with intense opposition, Chester has adopted a more pragmatic attitude. Officials see the Harrah's project as a potential economic engine that will bring new investment, service jobs and increased revenues to a Colonial-era city that has been battered by high unemployment, poverty, crime and drugs in recent decades.

"Chester has a different starting point than Gettysburg in terms of its economy and image," said John W. O'Neill, an assistant professor of hospitality management at Pennsylvania State University.

Despite its rich industrial, social and cultural heritage, Chester has not had much to brag about in recent decades. The city's poverty rate is nearly three times higher than the statewide figure, while its schools rank near the bottom, said Keith W. Reeves, who heads the Center for Social and Policy Studies at Swarthmore College. The population has dropped almost in half, to 36,854, from its World War II level.

"It's interesting that in a city with 25 houses of worship per square mile, the ministers have not preached against the casino from the pulpit," Mr. Reeves said. "I think the community is essentially saying: We'll take the casino and the racetrack and the potential negative externalities that will come with it, provided the revenues are reinvested in the community."

Harrah's plans to create 800 to 900 new jobs, a big boost for a city with just 6,000 private-sector jobs. What's more, the gambling legislation guarantees Chester a minimum $10 million in revenues, which represents almost 29 percent of the city's current budget.

There are benefits for Harrah's, as well. The site, which is on Industrial Highway, next to a state prison, is designated as distressed under a community development program. As a result, Harrah's is eligible for a range of state and local tax breaks through 2013, including local property tax relief.

An error has occurred. Please try again later.

You are already subscribed to this email.

Chester is not troubled by the tax abatement. David N. Sciocchetti, executive director of the Chester Economic Development Authority, said the city's so-called Keystone Opportunity Zone did what it was set up to do: attract new business to a blighted area.

While the city has not done an economic-impact study, Mr. Sciocchetti predicts the daily influx of visitors to Chester will prompt new restaurants, gas stations and businesses catering to tourists. He also sees an opportunity for companies that will supply the complex with goods and services.

Harrah's is the managing partner in the development company, which also includes three Pennsylvania business executives as limited partners.

For some residents, the abandoned shipyard was a painful reminder of Chester's glory days as part of the "arsenal of democracy." Still, Kim McCarron of SOSH Architects in Atlantic City recalled being somewhat awestruck when she first visited the site.

"It had a ghostlike quality to it," Ms. McCarron, the project architect, said. "You could just picture what had been there."

Today, work is continuing on the waterfront racetrack, with plans for a 45-day meet starting this summer, said Vince Donlevie, general manager of Harrah's Chester.

When designing the stone-dust track, Daniel Coon of Charles E. Coon & Sons in Lexington, Ky., worked around challenges left by the previous owners, like the wet dock, the area where work was completed on ships after they were launched. A substantial portion of the 131-stall paddock has been completed.

The entertainment building, which is attached to a parking garage, will house an area to simulcast the races, as well as races from tracks across the country. It will also have restaurants, a clubhouse, a banquet room, a V.I.P. lounge and a casino.

The 100,000-square-foot slots parlor, designed to hold 2,750 machines, is scheduled to open early next year, pending state gambling licensing approval. Because the slots parlor is part of a parimutuel racetrack, the granting of a license is almost guaranteed, Mr. O'Neill said. Altogether, the development will total nearly 700,000 square feet.

Designers said those who have visited the site understand the appeal of the scenic view of ships passing by on the river.

"I can't think of a racetrack where you look out over the back stretch and see the water," Mr. Coon said. "It's very striking."